cigars

Art Basel gets a new corporate sponsor: Davidoff. In return for sponsorship, the cigar manufacturer will create two outdoor cigar lounges “to offer fair visitors a relaxed venue for discussion, reflection and enjoyment of a fine cigar.” Grossss. I bet the only people in those lounges will be aging dealers who think they’re really cool. And younger hipsters who want to be like Alec Baldwin. [The Sacramento Bee]

Even The Atlantic has hopped aboard the “New Aesthetic” train. I don’t like the vagueness of the term, but I especially don’t like how Ian Bogost constantly compares the New Aesthetic with Futurism and its talk about violence and war. I don’t know many artists interested in how the internet is like a battlefield. [The Atlantic]

Book publisher Project Webster takes sleaze and greed to a new level: they’ve created a line of books with saucy titles like Celebrities with Big Dicks and Doomsday Cults: Getting Ready for the Rapture composed almost entirely from Wikipedia articles. That’s a way to avoid paying writers! [Gawker]

Occupy Museums and Occupy Wall Street will team up with the New York City & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters to protest the Frieze Art Fair on Randall’s Island. [The Art Newspaper]